SKorea; More Weapons Sent to Russia    11/20 06:10

   

   SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea recently supplied additional 
artillery systems to Russia to support its war efforts against Ukraine, while 
some of the thousands of North Korean troops deployed in Russia have begun 
engaging in combat, South Korea's spy agency told lawmakers Wednesday.

   The South Korean assessment came after Russia warned Monday that U.S. 
President Joe Biden's decision to let Ukraine strike targets inside Russia with 
U.S.-supplied longer-range missiles adds "fuel to the fire" of the war. U.S. 
officials said Biden's decision was triggered almost entirely by North Korea's 
entry into the war.

   In a closed-door briefing at parliament, the National Intelligence Service 
said that North Korea exported 170mm self-propelled guns and 240mm multiple 
rocket launch systems to Russia, according to lawmaker Lee Seong Kweun, who 
attended the meeting.

   Lee told reporters that the NIS assessed those weapons are a type of 
artillery the Russian military doesn't operate so North Korea likely dispatched 
personnel to teach the Russians how to use them and handle their maintenance.

   Last week, Russian Telegram channels and other social media posts published 
photos apparently showing North Korean's "Koksan" 170mm self-propelled guns 
being moved by rail inside Russia. The Financial Times, citing Ukrainian 
intelligence assessments, reported Sunday that North Korea in recent weeks sent 
some 50 domestically produced 170mm self-propelled howitzers and 20 240mm 
multiple launch rocket systems to Russia.

   The artillery systems are the latest conventional weapons that North Korea 
is believed to have provided to Russia as the two countries are sharply 
expanding their military cooperation in the face of separate confrontations 
with the U.S. and its allies. Last month, the NIS said that North Korea had 
sent more than 13,000 containers of artillery, missiles and other conventional 
arms to Russia since August 2023 to replenish its dwindling weapons stockpiles.

   During its Wednesday briefing, the NIS said that an estimated 11,000 North 
Korean soldiers in late October were moved to Russia's Kursk region, where 
Ukrainian troops seized parts of its territory this year, following their 
training in Russia's northeast, Lee said. He cited the NIS as saying the North 
Korean soldiers were assigned to Russia's marine and airborne forces units and 
some of them have already begun fighting alongside the Russians on the 
frontlines.

   The U.S., Ukraine and others have similar estimates on the size of North 
Korea's troop deployment. They say the North Korean soldiers arrived in Russia 
in October and that some of them have since engaged in combat in the Kursk 
region. Observers say North Korea's participation in the almost 3-year war 
threatens to escalate the conflict.

   Park Sunwon, another lawmaker who was present at the NIS meeting, made 
similar comments on the briefing. He said the spy agency couldn't provide an 
assessment on possible North Korean casualties.

   Moscow said Tuesday that Ukraine fired six U.S.-made ATACMS missiles at 
Russia's Bryansk region, in what would be Kyiv's first use of the weapon inside 
Russia. Ukraine's General Staff did not confirm whether the weapon was used, 
but said the armed forces struck an ammunition warehouse in the Bryansk region, 
which neighbors Kursk and was likely supplying Russian forces fighting there.

   Since the first year of the war, Ukrainian leaders have lobbied Western 
allies to allow them to use advanced weapons to strike key targets inside 
Russia.